Patient positioning systems are used by imaging devices to position patients with respect to an imaging system of the imaging device. For example, computed tomography (CT) imaging systems typically include a patient positioning system including a table upon which the patient lies and a drive system to move the table (and hence the patient) as the patient is scanned by the CT imaging system. A conventional drive system in an imaging device comprises a driving system to convert a rotary motion to a linear motion. The driving system uses one of a screw drive mechanism and a friction drive mechanism to convert a rotary motion to the linear motion. The screw drive mechanism comprises a driving screw and one or more linear guides. The linear guides are linear motion bearings that bear loads to guide the linear motion. The driving system further comprises a motor to create the rotary motion to drive the screw drive mechanism. The motor can be a single end shaft motor comprising a front bearing. Due to overhang leverage and cantilever behavior of the single end shaft motor, the driving system overloads the front bearing. The overload can lead to overheating and failure of the front bearing.
The screw drive mechanism has an issue of friction and wear. Moreover, the single end shaft motor used in the screw drive system has an issue of over hang load, which cannot be resolved unless a higher size motor is used. The primary limitation in the screw drive mechanism is that, the alignment between the linear guides and the driving screw is critical to the quality (CTQ). The alignment is taxing to manufacturing as well as production teams. Hence there exists a need for adapting an efficient and positive drive system in the imaging device.